Target

Question from reader Jackie:

I’m new to couponing and am having a hard time seeing the savings. Most of the things I see coupons for are for things I don’t use. I cook from scratch a lot and there seem to be a lot of ready made items with coupons. Tell me what I am missing please.

Jackie, that is a great question! The thing I personally save the most on is diapers & all baby items, cereal, big-ticket purchases, and personal care/hygeine items. Sometimes, watching for sales and knowing when the items you normally buy are at their lowest point is another way to save if there aren’t coupons for the items you buy.

There are almost always coupons for diapers

Normally, people go to the store and pay $11 or so for a jumbo pack of diapers once or twice a week. I wait for them to be on sale for $8.99, then I use a $2 or $3 off coupon, plus combine that with Rite Aid’s catalina +UP rewards, which prints another $1 off coupon. So my “stock up” price is $5.50.

If you buy diapers for two years at one pack a week without looking for sales, you will pay: $1144

If you buy diapers for two years at one pack a week (or averaging one pack a week, I normally buy 3 or 4 when they go on sale then don’t buy for a few weeks) you will pay: $572. And that’s if you’re paying $5.50 – a few weeks ago there was a deal at Target for diapers for $2.50 a pack with coupons!

The story is similar with baby formula and baby foods and clothes.

Another area I save a lot of money on is big-ticket items

I don’t save up money and as soon as I have money for an item go buy it. I had money saved up last fall for a wooden playground for my kids, but couldn’t find a deal. Four weeks ago Toys R’ Us had a sale where they were 30-40% off based on the set, and I had a $100 coupon! I got my set cheaper then you can buy them used – trust me, I searched KSL and Craigslist daily!!!

All personal care items and non-prescription pharmacy items I get 70% off or free

You can also save the most on with coupons and watching for sales at CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens. And these aren’t junk food – these are soap, shampoo, conditioner, razors, and toothpaste. Things we all use. Almost always you get free toothpaste and toothbrushes so I never pay for those.

Yet another great place to save money on is at dining out! I use coupons every time I go out to eat, BOGO free entrees save you a lot of dough!

In the End How Do You Save?

So in the end, will your grocery bill go down because of couponing if you eat all healthy, organic food? Not drastically. Will your costs for other necessities decrease? Trick question! At first, hold on to your seats, they will increase. Because you don’t have a stockpile! So every good deal you see you will want to grab. But once you get a huge stockpile, your price points shift lower and lower and you spend less and less. You will see dramatic savings.

I enjoy just hanging out with my husband and my girls; I don’t want to spend my whole life clipping coupons and driving to 10 stores a week. My husband took the picture above of me and my daughters just hanging out. These are the best times we have and I want more.

Thus I have compiled a list of inventive ways to save time couponing, since it can be so time-consuming:

Instead of clipping all the Smart Source, Red Plum, and P&G inserts yourself, find some friends each Sunday to do a coupon insert swap with. For example, each week I clip the Smart Source coupons and one of my friends clips the P&G and Red Plum inserts. Give them back their coupons once you’ve finished clipping them.

If a store is far away, trade weeks with a friend to shop there. For example, Target is 25 miles away from me. I print out all the deals I want to get, compile my coupons in an envelope, and give them to my friend who picks up my deals for me at Target. I do the same for her at Rite Aid and Walgreens; they are also quite a drive away from our homes. We make sure to have everything organized for the person who is going to make it easy for them. We also get separate receipts at checkout to make paying each other back easier & so we can have receipts to submit for rebates that need mailed in.

If you have 3 copies of the same insert to clip, make sure to stack all the individual coupon insert pages that are similar on top of each other and cut them at once.

I always save my shopping receipts because you never know when a rebate form will appear that has an item that you already purchased on it. For example, I recently did the Coors Rebate and used a receipt for Plastic Cups that I had purchased before I even heard about the rebate. The rebate dates were so long (Dec. 15-Feb.8) it was easy to find receipts to make the rebate work.

Gather all the ads for deals you want to do and price match them at Target. Remember, they won’t price match Rite Aid Plenti Points, Walgreen’s Register Rewards, B1G1 Free and other deals where an exact price isn’t listed. I like to shop at local stores that are running the ad to support them, plus the local stores pay for their ads, but if I don’t have time to visit them all or if the stores are too far away.

Use a coupon-clipping service and order coupons in bulk. Here is one of the cheapest (usually 5 cents per coupon) My Coupon Hunter here. Remember it will take a few days to get your coupons though.

Heather from Sweet Deals 4 Mom sent me this great idea: “I do a coupon train with about 7 other people. When I get the envelopes of coupons in the mail, I take what I need, replace what I took and remove the expired ones. Pretty easy.”

Kristin from Making Cents Out of Life sent me her tips: “I saves a lot of time and impulse buys just to not clip every coupon. I have a mixed method of coupon organization…when I get organized that is :), where I leave them whole but I plan 4 weeks of sales as far in advance as I can. I use Cuckoo for Coupons and other forums and blogs to look ahead, clip what I need and use 4 different accordion holders to store that week’s coupons until I need them. I keep the rest of the insert filed away and when I hear of a clearance deal I go clip. Always take a notebook and pen with you when you shop so you can write down clearance deals, and run back the next day if you really want the item. I spend less money not having my coupons with me at all times. I miss the occasional hot deal but the pay off is worth it. It’s hard to explain in a short (for me!) paragraph but not keeping my coupons with me all the time is usually a good thing. If you really are afraid of missing a hot deal, take the inserts but leave them in the car. You still don’t clip them but you have your box in the car so you can go out and clip the ones that you need if you come upon a clearance deal. But…I despise clipping coupons and trying to stuff them into the baseball card inserts or any other insert. Hahah. I love using them but hate clipping!”

What ideas do you have about saving time couponing? I’d love to hear them!

A Catalina is a piece of paper that prints at the end of your transaction. There are 4 different types of Catalinas that may print for you:

Dollar Off Coupons: An example would be a “$4.00 off your Next Your Purchase” Catalina. These can be used on ANY future purchase.

Manufacturer Coupons: Sometimes you may get a manufacturer’s coupon printed out instead. I usually buy Beech Nut Baby Food for my daughter because it is cheaper. But Gerber wants me to purchase their brand, so I will always get Gerber Manufacturer Coupons printed out of the Catalina Machine. Many times we don’t know when or if we will get the manufacturer’s coupons printed out after our order. Just think of it as a little surprise if you do!

Store Coupons: Target is a great example of this. Instead of printing out a manufacturer’s coupon for a brand, you will actually get a Target Coupon. These are great to get because you can use one Target coupon and one Manufacturer’s coupon on each item.

Previews of Upcoming Catalinas: Sometimes you may not get one of the 3 coupons I mentioned above. Instead, you will get a preview of an upcoming Catalina. It will tell you when the Catalina Promotion Starts and which products qualify to get the coupon.

Helpful Hints on Getting your Catalina to Print

Make sure the Catalina Machine is on: Before the cashier starts scanning your items, make sure the Catalina machine’s green light is on. If it isn’t, your Catalina will not print. And, if the Catalina machine is turned on in the middle of your transaction, chances are that you will not get it to print either. So make sure you check that before you start checking out.

Double Check the Items you are Purchasing: In order for a Catalina to print, you have to purchase the EXACT sizes, quantities and brand. If the 11.8 oz Box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch is part of the Catalina Promotion and you purchase the bigger box instead, you WILL NOT get a catalina printed out. So make sure you double check sizes, brands and that you purchased the right amount.

Call up Catalina: Sometimes you do everything right and the Catalina still doesn’t print out. What do you do in that case? Call up Catalina directly at 1-888-8COUPON or email them at ncsc@catalinamarketing.com. You will need to have your receipt and item handy so they can get the information from you. If you did purchase the correct brand, sizes and quantities, then they will mail you your Catalina coupon.

Where you can find a Catalina Coupon List?

Well, these are hard to come by as they aren’t advertised. I post them when I find them.

CVS has changed their coupon policy as of 07/31 2011 with changes that are similiar to the new policies at Rite Aid, Walgreen’s and Target:

You CANNOT use a BOGO Free manufacturer’s coupon AND a $xx/1 manufacturer’s coupon together for 2 items
You CANNOT use (2) $/1 manufacturer’s coupon’s on a CVS BOGO Sale (you can only use 1)
You CAN use a BOGO manufacturer’s coupon on a BOGO CVS sale, making both items free!
You CAN use a BOGO free coupon and a CVS coupon on a sale

Read my CVS Training Guide if you’re new to extreme couponing! These changes are something we should get used to, as these appear to be happening at more and more stores (I call it the TLC Extreme Couponing Effect).